The Ashes 2025-26: Why Usman Khawaja didn't open for Australia on day 1 of Perth test? Explained

Usman Khawaja walked out to bat at four for Australia in the Perth test.

The Australian Cricket Team and England Cricket Team are up against each other in the first match of Ashes 2025-26 at the Perth Stadium in Perth. The hosts were all over the visitors with the ball and then they had to deal with something different as they came out to bat. 

Australia didn’t open with Usman Khawaja and it was Marnus Labuschagne, who walked out to bat with Jake Weatherland at the top. Even at three, Khawaja wasn’t there and it was Steve Smith who walked out, leaving fans wondering about why there was no Khawaja at the top. 

However, the reason behind that is known. Usman Khawaja faced an injury scare during England’s innings and was out of the field for a long time. And as per the rules of the International Cricket Council (ICC), he cannot directly walk into the batting after a break. 

The rules suggest that a player has to wait for some amount of time to return to the field. Here are the ICC rules explained in Khawaja’s case

ICC Rules in Usman Khawaja’s case

ICC rule: 24.2.3: If a player is absent from the field for longer than 8 minutes, the following restrictions shall apply to their future participation in the match.

24.2.3.2: The player shall not be permitted to bat in the match until his team’s batting innings has been in progress for the length of playing time that is equal to the unexpired Penalty time carried forward from the previous innings. However, once his side has lost five wickets in its batting innings, he may bat immediately. If any unexpired penalty time remains at the end of that batting innings, it is carried forward to the next and subsequent innings of the match.

Khawaja, however, after that walked out to bat at four. He didn’t have a great outing as well as England have been breathing fire with the ball. Australia have lost four wickets under 35 runs and have come under massive pressure. 

With both teams giving their best, the match is expected to have a cracking end. England would be keen to wrap up the Australian innings as soon as possible and take a first innings lead.

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